trustearned | Kersen.

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kersen

Kersen.

Michael did not know what to expect. Kersen had woken him up with a phone call, saying he had some news, but of what sort? At least he had not sounded injured, or upset. After pulling on some track bottoms and a tank top, Michael had made coffee, and it was dripping into the pot when Kersen knocked on the door. He went and opened it, moving out of the way for the vampire to come in.

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When Kersen came in, he immediately smelled the coffee, and could also tell that Michael had just gotten out of bed. "Oh honey, I'm so sorry," he said immediately. "Sometimes I forget that you're not noctornual as well..."

Michael frowned at the endearment, but didn't answer anything to Kersen's concern, locking up behind him instead. He wasn't exactly diurnal, either; he was whatever he needed to be for Cesare Borgia, at any given moment. That included sleepless nights on a regular basis; the three hours' sleep he had got before Kersen's phone call would be more than enough to carry him through the day.

"What are the news?" he asked, moving back towards the coffee pot.

"Well," Kersen said. "I have good news and bad news."

He followed Michael into the kitchen. "The bad news is that it looks like I'm not going to be vampire queen." He paused. "Actually I guess that's the good news, too." Not waiting for Michael to have to ask him to explain further he said, "There's this um... vampire governing body, with some power throughout the world, hasn't had much of a presence here for a long time, but I guess they got a whiff of the shit show and sent someone. I met him tonight."

Michael mulled that over for a couple of seconds, then asked, "What is he like?" He was, apparently, good news, but Michael was of a cautious nature.

Kersen considered this for a moment, think of what Michael would want to know.

"Old," he said after a moment. "I don't know how old, I didn't ask. But I could feel it. He's got to be at least twice as old as me, which means he's the most powerful vampire I've seen in London in some time. I also watched him rip someone's head off without blinking an eye." Pause. "It was well deserved, I thought. Anyway. I also got a sense from him that he agrees with me on the way things should be run. Even if his reasoning is different. I think he cares less about protecting innocents and more about vampires not drawing attention to ourselves, but the outcome is the same - no indescriminantly killing humans."

That, at least, hinted that the new vampire in town would not likely agree with the Blood Diamond way of doing things. "What about you? Are you safe, with him in charge?" That was what mattered cared most about - whether Kersen was, and whether he himself was. "Am I?"

He could hardly do very much for Cesare Borgia if he was dead.

"To the best of my knowledge, yes," Kersen said. "He also has no idea who you are. But Preston Clark is currently in a cage in the basement of the Blood Diamond, awaiting trial. At which point Eric will kill him publicly. He is also in the process of tracking down the vampire who escaped us after your rescue."

That was a lot to take in, but Michael simply nodded. "So he's coming in handy. Tell me more about that... governing body."

"I haven't had much interaction with them honestly," Kersen said. "They have these elections that are pretty much fixed, to install sheriffs... whoever they want in power, and then there's someone above them as well. There's a council of mostly very old, very powerful vampires who seem to be mostly concerned with keeping humans from knowing that we exist."

Concerned with the survival of the vampire race, then, Michael translated to himself. "So they're unlikely to have a problem with you." And this new vampire in town was in fact likely to do things right, by their standards. This might just be working out for the best, but Michael would wait and see. He wasn't a trusting person.

"He does not seem to have a problem with me," Kersen confirmed. "And I apparently have a much better survival instinct than Clark." He moved closer to Michael, slid a hand onto his arm. "This is good, I think."

"Time will tell," Michael confirmed, but turned his hand to lift it and curl his fingers on Kersen's elbow. "What happened with Clark?" He'd just made it sound like something had.

The small gesture of added closeness was welcome. Kersen took a little breath and said, "He didn't fall in line. And well, it's not as if I did so blatantly, but I know when to keep my mouth shut. Clark ran his off until he got put in his own cage. I suspect he'd be dead if Eric didn't want to make an example of him."

"With that trial," Michael worked out. It was smart, using Clark that way. He searched Kersen's face, then asked, "How are you feeling about all of this?"

"Relieved," said Kersen. "But don't worry, I didn't just throw myself at his feet in gratitude. I'm trying to both be cautious and be smart."

One of Michael's eyebrows twitched up at the addendum; he hadn't been worried that Kersen might have, and was amused at the assurance. "Good," was all he said to that.

"Coffee," Kersen suggested, when he looked over and saw that it had stopped dripping.

He leaned back against the counter and said, "I think the guy might be a Viking or something. He looks like someone's drawing of a Norse god. Except apparently he's here by way of America."

Michael pulled his hand off Kersen and stepped over to the coffee machine, grabbing a mug on his way. "Do you know the name he goes by?" Michael asked as he poured himself a cup, then raised the pot with a look at Kersen to ask if he wanted any.

"Northman," said Kersen. "Eric Northman." Which itself probably said something about he Norse thing.

He nodded in response to the offer for coffee. He still felt a little bad about waking Michael up.

"I'll see what I can find out about him," Michael stated as he grabbed a second mug to fill it with coffee.

Kersen was kind of doubtful that Michael would find much in his particular circles, but hey, who knows. Michael often surprised him.

He definitely wouldn't tell Michael that Eric had referred to him as his (Kersen's) human.

"I can't help but feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders," he said.

"It has," Michael confirmed, and held the mug out to him. "Responsibilities - and control." It wasn't all good, although some of it was, especially given how reluctant Kersen had been to take on the mantel in the first place.

Kersen took a sip of the coffee. "Are you disappointed?" he asked after a moment.

"I'm wary," Michael replied simply. Disappointment was not on the spectrum of things he felt about this new development.

"That is a reasonable thing to be," Kersen said. He took another sip of the coffee, and then set it down.

"And I just want to say again... thank you. For being there for me through all this. I know you probably don't want to hear it, but I feel it."

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